"Dad's gonna lose his shit when he finds out," JR grinned, lounging back on his sister's bed. He was all Steve - long legs, broad shoulders, charming smirk. Right now, his younger sister wanted nothing more than to punch the smirk off his face.
She scowled at him, narrowing her eyes. "Which is why you aren't going to do anything to make it worse. Do not antagonize him, John."
JR raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, I just got real named. You must be serious, Pop."
"As a damn heart attack," she sighed. Pulling her long, dark hair over one shoulder, Poppy began nervously braiding it. "He's not really going to freak out, is he?"
"I mean, it's Dad?" JR lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. "It's also Dad. So who the fuck knows? Does Mom know?"
Poppy shot her brother a look. "Of course Mom doesn't know. She may be ex-CIA but that woman can't keep a secret from dad if it involves us to save her life."
"That," JR pointed at his sister, "is absolutely true. So, what? I'm the only one that knows? The rest of 'em are going in blind?"
Poppy stood up from her desk chair and began pacing a little nervously. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I wasn't about to tell Con anything." She paused. "Oh, well, Grace knows too. But she's not going to say anything before we do."
JR snorted. He almost felt bad for their younger brother. As Irish twins, Poppy and JR were inseparable and poor Connor, five years younger, was often left in the dust. Especially when it came to his older siblings' personal lives. The kid was also oblivious to anything other than his X-Box and the latest girl he had picked up off the beach.
"What time are they all coming over?" JR asked, picking up a small stuffed dolphin and tossing it from hand to hand. He watched as Poppy nervously picked up and put down the array of lipsticks on her dresser. Her shoulders were set stiffly, and he could see the slightly wild look in her eyes. Damn, she was usually unflappable.
"5:30, hopefully." Poppy sighed. "How am I supposed to act like this is all a normal Sunday dinner?"
"Uh," JR drew up short. "It is a normal dinner? Mom and Dad are just gonna know that you're dating Charlie."
At the mention of her boyfriend's name, Poppy's face melted into a soft smile. Charlie Williams was nearly eight years older than she was and he was a stubborn pain in her ass, but god she loved him. She had for years. And that was part of the problem. She knew that her parents loved Charlie, but as their pseudo-nephew, not their daughter's very serious boyfriend.
"Exactly," she hissed in reply.
"Exactly what?" JR rubbed his forehead, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He should've just skipped the family dinner and gone out with Mikaela instead. His girlfriend was drama free, at least.
"Mom and dad are going to know!" she retorted, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "You know they're going to freak out. Of course they're going to freak out. Charlie's in his thirties. He's a freaking cop! Oh god." She moaned and dropped to the bed, sprawling face-down on the mattress. JR reached out and patted the top of Poppy's head gently. He laughed to himself when she groaned.
"Call Charlie and make sure he brings a good bottle of wine," JR laughed and rolled off the bed, padding down the hall. Both he and Poppy had moved out of their childhood home, but Catherine and Steve had left their bedrooms unchanged, so he figured he'd flip through his closet and see if there was a nicer shirt that he could change into.
"You've been no help, John!" Poppy shouted after him, completely stressed out.
"That's my job, Poppy," he retorted.
"Where are they?" Poppy pulled the curtain aside and glanced out at the street. Her brothers, content to throw back handfuls of potato chips and smack talk each other while playing video games, barely spared her a glance.
"Dad and Danno are probably fighting over who gets to drive," Connor supplied - more than twenty years of friendship under their belts hadn't lessened the McGarrett-Williams bickering. In fact, sometimes their kids agreed that the bickering had only increased with age.
Poppy grumbled. "Dad knows he was supposed to be on time tonight."
"Yeah, but it's dad," Connor pointed out, his tone making it clear that Poppy should understand the subtext of his words.
"And?" Poppy scowled, looking very much like an angry version of their mother.
"And," Connor said lazily, the very picture of Hawaiian surfer dude with his sun-lightened hair, cargo shorts, and perma-tan, "Dad's never on time when he's tied up with a case. And throw in his need to always be right with Danno, lethal combo, sis."
"I hate you," Poppy threw a couch pillow at her younger brother and stomped off into the kitchen where Catherine was attempting to finish pulling dinner together.
"Why is your husband so unreliable?" she grouched, leaning her elbows on the counter and plopping her chin in the palm of her hand.
"Well, he does regularly drop into combat territory to rescue friends in danger," Catherine replied blithely. "I'd say he's pretty reliable in that manner."
Poppy scowled. "You're not funny, you know that, right?"
"That is the one thing they never taught us in the Navy," Catherine deadpanned. She looked up from the salad she was preparing and raised an eyebrow. "Now, you want to tell me why you're so edgy?"
"No," Poppy said slowly, dragging out the word into at least three syllables. She reached out and grabbed a carrot. Biting into it thoughtfully, she eyed her mom. Catherine was calmly finishing the salad, pointedly ignoring Poppy. "Maybe," Poppy conceded quietly. Maybe having Catherine on her side would be a good thing?
"Whenever you're ready, PJ," Catherine said warmly. She shot her daughter a small smile. Poppy returned it, albeit a little more wary.
"Do you think Dad's gonna be much longer?" she asked, taking the serving bowl Catherine handed her and transferring pulled pork from the warming tray in the oven to the nicer bowl.
"Probably not," Catherine allowed. "Is he on a timer or something?"
"No," Poppy sighed. "I guess he and Danno can get here whenever they want."
"And Charlie," Catherine added easily.
"And Charlie," Poppy agreed, biting the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't smile. Catherine clocked the slight hesitation and turned to the fridge, smiling to herself.
"It's nice that Charlie can finally join us for Sunday dinner," Catherine said casually. "HPD keeps him so busy."
"Mhm," Poppy hummed, accepting the condiments from Catherine and setting them on the table. A small voice in the back of her head went off - warning that Catherine was laying a trap for her daughter.
"I feel like we haven't seen him in so long," she continued. "Rachel was telling me that he's been in such a good mood lately. Maybe a promotion is coming down the pike?"
Poppy shrugged. "Maybe? I don't know. Charlie's a good cop."
In fact, she knew that a promotion was imminent. Charlie has texted her the good news the other day. There were about to be two detectives in the Williams family.
"I wonder if that's the big news Charlie has for everybody," Catherine mused.
"Big news?" Poppy asked, a little too quickly. She hadn't realized that Charlie was talking about their plans to announce their relationship to his parents.
Catherine nodded, setting the table. "Either that or he's dating someone new. Danny and your dad have been trying to guess if it's any of the other HPD officers."
Choking a little, Poppy's eyes went wide. "Oh?"
"Well, you know those two. Even bigger gossips in their old age," Catherine laughed, quietly gauging Poppy's reaction. Her daughter laughed lightly, but it was definitely forced. It was almost cute the way Poppy was trying so hard to act nonchalant.
"Mhm, yeah," Poppy replies absently. "Did they, uh, pick anyone?"
Catherine shrugged lightly. "Not that they told me. But I'm sure they'll tease Charlie about it tonight."
Poppy nodded and then jumped as the front door opened, gently knocking against the wall. She whipped her head around in time to see Steve, Danny, and Charlie enter the house.
"I don't know why you didn't take the shortcut," Steve was saying, ruffling his hand over both JR and Connor's heads as he walked past them.
"Because," Danny retorted, "your shortcuts usually add fifteen minutes to the drive and take ten years off of my life." He followed Steve into the kitchen and while Steve missed Catherine hello, Danny grinned at Poppy and said, "Hey, kiddo. Hanging in there?"
"Hi, Danno," Poppy smiled back, leaning over to kiss Danny's cheek. "As best I can. Just another week of classes before finals."
"Thank god," Danny smirked. "Maybe once he has a lawyer in the family, Steve'll finally follow it."
Catherine laughed, "Doubt it."
"If my methods work, why would I change them?" Steve asked, the "duh" implied. Charlie, leaning against the doorframe, grinned at Steve's tone. Poppy caught his eye and smiled slightly. He gave her an almost imperceptible wink.
"Should we open this?" he asked, holding up a bottle of wine and effectively cutting off the start of an argument between Steve and Danny. Before waiting for an answer, he rummaged around in the drawer next to the sink and found the corkscrew - comfortable in the home that he'd practically grown up in.
Poppy accepted a glass of wine, her fingers brushing Charlie's. God, all she wanted was to give him a big kiss. She couldn't wait until dinner was over and their big secret was out. Charlie gave her a look and she knew he was thinking the same thing.
It was going to be a long night.
"I can't believe how big the girls have gotten," Catherine gushed over the pictures of Grace's daughters that Danny was showing off.
"Yeah," Danny smiled, the proud grandfather, "She and Chris are going to bring them out for a couple of weeks this summer and Rachel and I are going to go to San Francisco for Easter."
"It'll be nice to have a week's vacation from you," Steve teased, smirking at his partner as he leaned back in his chair and draped an arm over Catherine's shoulder.
Danny narrowed his eyes. "Joke's on you. I've deputized Charlie to harass you in my absence."
"Charlie wouldn't do that to his favorite uncle," Steve protested, looking to Charlie for reassurance.
Poppy nudged Charlie's leg under the table, widening her eyes at him. They couldn't afford a fight before announcing their news. That would only make it harder. Charlie nudged her leg back and smiled at the adults. Before he could answer, Catherine cut in with a wink.
"Don't ask the poor kid to lie to you, Steve," she joked, resting her hand on her husband's thigh and gently squeezing so he wouldn't continue the current conversation.
"Fine, fine," Steve grumbled and then he smirked mischievously. "How about Charlie fills us in on the HPD gossip?"
Danny grinned at his son, backing Steve up. "Yeah, you must know all the comings and goings around there."
JR caught his sister's eye and raised a sympathetic eyebrow. But the amused smile threatening to take over his face told a different story. Poppy wrinkled her nose at him. Connor looked between both of his siblings, totally confused as to what was happening. He shrugged and went in for a third pulled pork sandwich.
"I dunno," Charlie said easily. "I pretty much keep out of the drama."
"You sure?" Danny asked slyly, leaning forward a little bit. "Because your mom mentioned that you've been, uh, unavailable lately."
"Unavailable?" To Charlie's credit, he sounded completely unaffected. He shook his head a little. "Mom just keeps attempting to talk when I'm on shift."
"I guess she'll have to get used to that," Danny laughed, "since you'll be making your way up the ranks soon."
"You got a promotion?" Connor jumped in. "Sweet! Can I get one of those get out of jail free cards?"
Everyone at the table collectively rolled their eyes at the youngest McGarrett.
"You already have one," JR deadpanned, "it's your last name."
"Not," Steve cut in, "that you should be getting into enough trouble that HPD is pulling you over or getting involved."
"Of course not," Connor grinned rakishly. "But, y'know, shit happens."
"Not to my kids," Catherine pinned him with a glare. Connor winded under the scrutiny and mumbled, "yes mom," before shoving more potato salad into his mouth.
JR and Poppy snickered at their brother, but shut up when Catherine turned a glare on each of them. JR took a bite of his sandwich and Poppy dipped at her wine, both of them avoiding eye contact.
"Actually," Charlie coughed, drawing attention to himself. He wadded up his napkin nervously. "I did, uh, want to announce something."
He glanced over at Poppy and her stomach did a happy flip, even though her palms grew sweaty. She offered up a tiny, encouraging smile, her hand finding his knee under the table. She squeezed gently.
"So, I...we," Charlie corrected himself, "didn't want to say anything until we were sure it was serious, but, I can confidently say that this isn't just a fling."
Steve, Catherine, Danny, and Connor were all leaning forward, curious as hell. Poppy bit the inside of her cheek - she and Charlie had been dating for nearly six months, flirting for even longer, and she knew that they were serious, but she still got a thrill from hearing him say it out loud.
Steve nudged Danny's side. "Told you it was gonna be one of the HPD officers."
Danny rolled his eyes, "You don't know that. He hasn't spit out a name yet."
"I wonder where he gets his love of the dramatics?" Steve asked sarcastically.
"Rachel," Danny replied immediately and without hesitation. Catherine snorted a laugh.
"Uh," Charlie cut in wryly, sounding very much like Danny, "think I could talk?"
"Oh, sure," Danny waved a hand in the air, "continue."
"Thanks, dad," Charlie sighed. "As I was saying, we wanted to let you guys know, Poppy and I have been seeing each other."
The room went silent.
And then it erupted.
"What?"
"You've been sneaking around?"
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"You're too young," Steve's voice cut through the din and everyone quieted down.
"What?" Poppy tilted her head at her dad, confused.
Steve sat forward, a serious look on his face. "You're only 24 years old, Poppy."
"And?" she replied, mimicking his posture.
"And, we love Charlie, but he's nearly 10 years older than you," Steve's calm tone grated on Poppy's nerves.
JR and Connor surreptitiously slid away from the table, anticipating an escalation in the argument. As much as they both wanted to see what would happen, it was t really worth the possibility of getting caught in the cross-fire. They'd been witness to fights between Poppy and Steve before and they got ugly sometimes - especially since Poppy had started law school.
"Eight years," Poppy corrected quietly. "If you're going to use it as an argument for your disapproval, get your facts right."
Steve narrowed his eyes. "Remember who you're talking to, Poppy Josephine. I'm still your father."
Catherine reached out and rested her hand on Steve's forearm. She heard the edge in Steve's voice and saw the flash of anger in Poppy's eyes. Steve glanced down at her hand and then flicked his gaze up to her eyes. She tilted her head at him in silent conversation.
"Then you should want me to be happy," Poppy retorted. "And Charlie makes me happy."
"Then why did you feel the need to sneak around?" Steve asked, rubbing at his forehead to try and stave off a headache.
Danny lifted a finger in the air. "I'd also like to know the answer to that."
"We weren't sure," Charlie scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Before it was a relationship, it wasn't anything serious. We didn't want to tell everyone and then break up and have to walk back everything that had happened."
"So you were just going to jerk my daughter around?" Steve said flatly.
Danny turned to him, an angry crease forming between his eyebrows. "Hey, you know my kid better than that. You think he's really gonna just be a dick and dump her?"
"I don't know!" Steve shot back. "I love the kid like one of my own, but he's dating my daughter! She takes priority here."
"Charlie's not a dumb kid," Danny argued. "Neither is Poppy! But it really sounds like you're insulting my son."
"This!" Poppy burst in. "This is why we didn't want to say anything until we were sure. Charlie and I are solid. I'm not ending anything with him any time soon."
"Neither am I," Charlie added.
Steve rubbed a hand over his face. "I can't believe this."
"Is Charlie not good enough?" Danny sniped.
"That's not what Steve means," Catherine jumped in to defend her husband. She sighed and looked at her daughter. "This is a lot to take in, baby. We would've liked to have known earlier."
Poppy frowned. "I'm 24 years old and you've raised me to be a great judge of character. I didn't think I had to run everything in my personal life by you both."
"A little courtesy would be nice," Steve drawled sarcastically.
"This was your courtesy," Poppy shot back, just as sarcastic. Then she stood up. "I'm sorry that you're not happy about this, Dad. But Charlie and I are serious and I'm staying with him, with or without your blessing."
Catherine bit the inside of her cheek at Poppy's stubborn proclamation. As much as their daughter resembled her, the tight, clenched set of her jaw was all Steve.
Danny sighed on his side of the table. "I guess I'm on board. Both of you could do worse." He gave a tiny, wry smile and Charlie returned it.
"Thanks for the support, Dad," he said. Poppy agreed with a nod.
"Dad?" Poppy turned to Steve with a pointed look. Charlie reached up and tangled his fingers with hers - a show of support. Steve clocked the gesture and sighed.
"I'm not thrilled about the deception and the sneaking around," he said slowly. "But, Charlie is a great man and I think he knows I'll murder him if he hurts you."
Charlie chuckled. "Yeah, I definitely know that."
"That goes double for me," Catherine grinned, still running her fingers over Steve's forearm in a calming gesture. She winked at Poppy to show that she was teasing.
Some of the tension in Poppy's shoulders released and she smiled shakily. "I'm glad you're coming around."
Steve smiled at her. "We'll see, kid. Cool it with the lying and I'll probably be even happier."
Poppy opened her mouth - probably to make some quippy comment about how she hadn't been lying - but Charlie pinched her thigh, effectively shutting her up. She shot him a glare, but he only smiled passively at her.
"So," Catherine clapped her hands together, effectively breaking some of the tension that had grown in the room, "who wants dessert?"
Poppy pushed the door to Iolani Palace open, infinitely comfortable in a building that she had spent countless hours in while growing up. Several of the security guards were the same and she waved at them in greeting, her feet automatically taking her to 5-0's office space.
Steve was standing at the computer in the middle of the room when she pushed the glass doors open.
"Hi, daddy," she said, announcing her presence.
Steve turned around quickly, a smile spreading across his face when he saw Poppy. "PJ, this is a nice surprise!"
"I had some time before class," she shrugged and held up a plastic bag, "I figured I would come bring you lunch. It's a gorgeous day out too, so I didn't mind the walk."
"Lunch sounds like a great idea," Steve ushered her into his office and they both sat on the couch, quietly unpacking the take-out Poppy had brought. Digging into the food, they ate in silence for a few minutes.
"Um," Poppy broke the silence, sticking her chopsticks into the carton of lo mein she was holding, "I just wanted to make sure we're good after dinner the other day."
After the explosive Sunday night dinner, Poppy hadn't spoken to Steve all week. She'd talked to both Catherine and Connor who had assured her that Steve was mostly fine and no grumpier than usual. But, still, she worried that there had been some damage to their relationship. After all, they'd rarely gone two days without speaking or seeing each other, much less a full work week.
Steve set his own carton down on the table and nodded. "We're good, Pop. I, uh, talked with your mom and she pointed out that I may have been a little unreasonable."
"A little?" Poppy raised an eyebrow, smiling.
"Hey, watch it," Steve pointed a finger at her. "I'm still your dad."
"Sorry," Poppy held her hands up in surrender. "But you were kind of being a jerk. It's Charlie. You know if anyone's going to be the asshole in this relationship, it's me."
Her joke worked and Steve chuckled a bit. Growing serious, he said, "I hope you'll understand one day what it's like to watch your kids grow up." He ran a hand through his hair, cropped short for the spring and more grey than black nowadays. "I know you're 24 and you're going to be graduating law school, but I still see my little girl and it's hard to let go. I love you and if you're happy and Charlie's treating you right, then I'm on board."
Poppy lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Steve's neck in a tight hug. "I love you, dad."
Hugging her back, Steve kissed the side of her head, "I love you too, kiddo."
A/N: no idea where this one came from except i like the idea of steve and danny being in-laws lol.
my numbers are a little fudged, but ages are: grace (40), charlie (32), jr (25), poppy (24), and connor (19)
i know it's super long, but these guys kept getting away from me! either way, i really had fun writing this one - so please drop me a review :)
come chat on tumblr - thewintersoldierdisaster